Heda's Banquet Piece, Frans Hals' Willem Coymans, and Rembrandt's Lucretia. Paintings by these and other masters attracted the American collectors P. A. B. Widener, his son Joseph, and Andrew W. Mellon, whose bequests form the heart of the National Gallery's distinguished and remarkably cohesive collection of ninety-one Dutch paintings.

Essays by American and Dutch scholars and museum curators explore the collecting and reception of seventeenth-century Dutch painting in America, from the colonial era through the Gilded Age to today.

This is a study of seventeenth-century Dutch painting.

Newly independent in 1585, the increasingly prosperous and politically powerful Dutch Republic experienced a tremendous rise in the production of artwork that was unparalleled in quantity, variety, and beauty. Now back in print, this classic book (originally published in 1996) examines the country's rich artistic culture in the seventeenth century, providing a full account of Dutch artists and patrons; artistic themes and techniques; and the political and social world in which artists worked. Distinguished art historian Mariët Westermann examines the ?worldly art” of this time in the context of the unique society that produced it, analyzing artists' choices and demonstrating how their pictures tell particular stories about the Dutch Republic, its people, and its past. More than 100 color illustrations complement this engaging discussion of an extraordinary moment in the history of art.

The collection of Dutch old master paintings in the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest ranks among the most important in the world: its five hundred works by seventeenth-century artists is the world’s fourth largest array outside Holland. 'Rembrandt and the Dutch Golden Age' seeks to throw light on this substantial collection from the Old Masters’ Gallery. Centred around the highlights of the Museum’s own collection, this exhibition will provide an introduction to the strikingly rich and versatile artistic culture of the “Dutch Golden Age”. It will unfold the richness of genres and versatility of styles in seventeenth-century Dutch painting in a way that is interesting, comprehensible, and delightful for the public. It will throw new light on a body of work of international importance within the Museum of Fine Arts’ own collections. It will also display some pieces from today’s Hungarian private collections. The catalogue will include essays on the historical relations between Hungary and the Netherlands (with special attention to the seventeenth century) and on the history of collecting Dutch painting within Hungary.0Exhibition: Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary (28.10.2014-15.02.2015).

The Grove Dictionary of Art, the award-winning 34-volume set that was launched to critical acclaim in 1996, represents the knowledge of more than 6,800 of the world's leading scholars. It is now the preeminent reference resource for the visual arts. The new GroveART series makes this comprehensive and authoritative art scholarship accessible and affordable to all audiences for the first time. Complete with a multipage color plate section as well as extensive black and white images throughout, each volume in the series will focus on one particularly popular area or period of art history. Broad enough to appeal to the general reader, but thorough enough for the art historian, each book will reflect the depth and excellence of coverage that brought such acclaim to The Grove Dictionary of Art. One of the most creative and accessible periods of art the world has ever known, the Golden Age is brought to life in an unprecedented series of biographies of the artists active in the Netherlands during the 17th-century. Painters in the Dutch Republic specialized in portraits, domestic genre scenes, still-lives, and landscapes -- metaphors of the tiny new country's immense pride and wealth. This book features biographies on more than 220 artists, from Frans Hals to Vermeer to Rembrandt.